How are Puerto Rico's schools recovering after Hurricane Maria? My fantastic co-blogger, Andrew Ujifusa, and Swikar Patel, the deputy director of photography and video producer for Education Week, were on the ground there during the past week exploring what's next for the U.S. territory's schools.

And she's hoping Congress will give her a hand in reopening some of the schools, something along the lines of the millions in restart aid given to school districts recovering from Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans back in 2005. "Those restart funds were huge [after Katrina]," Keleher said. "If we're strategic about it, it's only going to advance our reforms quicker."

"I have relatives in the U.S. who call and say, 'Come on, you got a profession, you speak English, you've got to move here.' I say no," she said. "This is my island. My students need me."

•Since the hurricane hit, Aida Díaz, the leader of the Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, has been tracking down her union members and giving them aid. And she knows that teachers, in turn, will have to provide emotional support to children. "We have students that can't sleep after the hurricane," Díaz said. "We have students that see rain and start crying. We have to work with all of them." Watch an interview with her here.

•Even in schools that are serving as shelters, parents are trying to help their kids keep learning—and keep from getting bored. "I have [their] notebooks with school assignments that I can give to them," one parent told Andrew.

•What's the hurricane recovery look like through the eyes of a fifth grader? Andrew talked to Odaric Rodriguez Ortega, who misses his history class and can't stop thinking about all the people on the island who are "lost and hungry."

Categories:

Tags:

Notice: We recently upgraded our comments. (Learn more here.) If you are logged in as a subscriber or registered user and already have a Display Name on edweek.org, you can post comments. If you do not already have a Display Name, please create one here.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.